Lucid dreams

[Shamgarr]

Hey guys, the other day, my friend told me about lucid dreams, but didn't really get into it. I just know the basics, but what is it like?

I can Lucid Dream and I have to say, it is awesome. I can't do it all the time, but sometimes it'll work. The key to Lucidity isn't to difficult it just requires practice and the right mindset. The first thing to do is have the ability to remember your dreams. This is probably the most important thing. For me, I remember just about every dream I have so this isn't an issue. From there you just have to be able to "unlock" yourself within a dream and realize your in a dream. Once you do this, you'll be able to control it and you're free to do whatever you want.

Personally, I suggest flying.

 

[philosophicalbastard]

I've had a lucid dream once, and I must say, why does everyone fly? Really, has anyone had lucid dream where they didn't disregard gravity.

 

[Antitonic]

Flying's one of the easier things to do in lucid dreams. That's probably why.

Plus, it's cool!

 

[tobi the good boy]

ive had it a couple of times but the ones that really stood out for me was when i knew i was in a dream and i was the only one acting normal, ok rundown of dream, father tryed to summon thor, yes the f**king viking god, so that it could destroy crap, proceeded by him opening a portal telling me to look after it while he went out to buy some beer. i knew i was in a dream except i had none of these so called powers everyone was tellling me i had so i was trying to speak logically to ppl in the dream world, i awoke latter extreamly confused

 

[Yeager942]

The closest I've come to lucid dreaming is when I fell asleep while my brother and sister were watching Casablanca. I was half awake while sleeping and I could hear Casablanca playing during my dream. As a result, my dream was more or less based on the plot of the movie, and during the entire time I could tell I was dreaming. It was incredibly surreal.

 

[WayOutThere]

I've never had a fully-fledged lucid dream but I've had several interesting experiences. You fade in and out of consiouss awarness. You tell yourself to be smart about it but you often get caught up in the dream and loose focus. Other times you try to take advatage of your circumstances by trying to do things like fly. This is a bad idea for beginers. You have to constrain yourself but often aren't smart enough to.

I've had experinces where I could jump to tremendous heights but flying has come tough. I always look down and loose my focus on actually flying. The trick to doing this stuff is to emotionally commit yourself to it. Once I jumped into the air but started to fall, then I focused and willed myself to rise back into the air.

In my semi-lucid dreams I don't really feel like I'm in real life. Sometimes I remember distintly being in the first-person perspective but often I'm not that focused. I remember examining my enviornment and I believe it was fairly detailed.

I've had false awakings. Once I even dreampt I was awake in bed trying to fall asleep so I could begin lucid dreaming again. Another time I drempt there were technological glasses I had to put on so I could enter a lucid dream. Often yout just don't get it.

Semi-lucid dreaming is disorienting but fasinating.

 

[SomeBoredGuy]

I can only remember two or three lucid dreams. The first one, I can't remember much except that I got a lightsaber, the second I can remember I used a device not too dissimilar(sp.) from a cheat console to go invisible and noclip around stuff, which was very fund but required a bit of will to go through solid objects which also turned me naked which I had absolutely no problems with, and the third and most recent one started out like some strange combination of DOOM, Half-Life and Battlefield 2142 (which I have never actually played myself but have seen clips of along with DOOM) where I ran around with silver futuristic weapons shooting monsters like the ones from DOOM in a very Half-Life-esque lab which also happened to be very dark. Anyway, like any of my lucid dreams, I noclip'd upwards and noticed that it was just that lab for miles and it was built exactly like a video game level in that it was just blackness on all sides around the level and after that I decided it was too boring and chose to wake up. I suppose I could have just warped out of there but I had only had a couple lucid dreams before and a) I completely forgot about exactly how much control I had over my dreams and b) even going through walls on noclip started out as a task that required a bit of will. Oh, and I probably would have been naked when I came out on the other side as well, which I wouldn't have minded either.

 

[Steeveeo]

Flying's one of the easier things to do in lucid dreams. That's probably why.

Plus, it's cool!

You seem to be knowledgeable on how to translate the meanings of dreams, mind if you help me out?

So far I have only really had one or two lucid dreams that burn brightly in my memory, the rest are just vivid normal dreams, stated below. I have some recurring dreams that you may or may not be able to help me with, but here goes:


1. Jumping Dreams - I have these quite a bit. Similar to flying dreams, but instead of just leaving the ground and going off someplace, I involuntarily jump...really high. Almost all of these start with me running some place for some ambiguous reason; suddenly I take an odd step and I go shooting what appears to be anywhere from 20 to 150 feet into the air, only to come sailing back down, actually feeling like I am jumping from a high point. At first, when these started, the landing always woke me up, but I trained myself to stay asleep (proving that "if you land in falling dreams, you die" is a complete falsehood), the event usually correlating back into the dream.

2. "Held Back" - Another recurring dream, a quite odd one. Usually it's either running someplace or trying to punch someone who's angering me in my dream. Sometimes, when I try to run in my dreams, I suddenly either feel like I am running underwater, or too weightless to have my feet touch the ground in a timely fashion. When I am in a "dream fight" with one of my past rivals, I try to punch them in the face as hard as I can, like in any fight; but right before I connect with their smug nose, my arm locks, my hand stops 3 inches from the target, I can't move it past that, I just don't get it when it happens; I strain my entire arm to try to hit this punk, and I just freeze...

3. Weather Dreams - Haven't had many of these lately, but I used to often have dreams of severe weather phenomena, like tornadoes, thunderstorms, earthquakes, and sometimes airplane crashes.

4. Sound Dreams - This is probably the most frightening recurring dream I ever have. This comes in two forms for me. The first is during some sort of scenario, like working on a sound system, or in a thunderstorm, or anything that could result in a slightly loud sound. Now, suddenly, something happens; a crack of lightning, the sound system crackles; suddenly, an INTENSE and RISING sound, getting ever louder, and louder, completely distorted, my dream world shakes itself apart - everyone in my dream seems to react, covering their ears, I always feel like I am being torn apart. To put this into perspective, think of the loudest thunderclap you have ever heard. Now take that thunderclap, extend it out for several minutes, and increase the volume slowly until it's about 10 fold; it's even louder than that. It always wakes me up, heart pounding, wondering what the hell happened outside to wake me up, but the sound is ALWAYS in my dream, loud enough to think the very house was falling down.
The second form of this is a tad less dramatic, but still odd. I could be minding my own dreamy business, following out whatever storyline has been put ahead of me. Suddenly, I have some sort of visual stigma, like seeing an old friend, or some arbitrary character from a game, and a loud WHOOSH sound plays out (similar to the one you hear when yawning deeply, but about 3 times louder), the dream crashes to a halt, I half-wake in a sleep paralysis state, seeing what I should be looking at, even though I can't open my eyes.

A last one, not recurring, but has happened twice so far. I got stabbed in my dream world. I'm not just talking a visual image of me being poked at with some sort of distorted weapon, I am talking all 5 senses playing full blast, like I am actually getting stabbed. The latest one, a woman, for some reason, was pointing a rather large scimitar at me, and I was trying to talk my way out of it. She doesn't seem to like my attitude, so she slowly runs me through with this rather large sword. I can feel the heat of the blade, the pain, the blood, all of it. Luckily I woke up soon after both, with a stomach ache and a slight metallic taste in my mouth. Eerie dreams, those were...

I know that was a lot to read, but I am really curious at what that all means. Thanks for reading.

 

[Incompl te]

I tend to have HEAPS of lucid dreams, and when I do, it just seems that something in the dream happens that I know wouldn't happen in real life; which then makes me realise "Oh. That's really odd. I must be dreaming." At which point, I just do whatever the hell I want.

It's like a game of G-Mod. Only more interactive and with more possibilities.

 

[Antitonic]

Snip

As I said, it's not going to be super-professional stuff, but let's see...

1. The running suggests either an issue you're avoiding (maybe not on purpose, but subconsciously), or a decision you need to make. Given that you're jumping, the second is more likely, as that suggests risk. The meaning of the height difference is usually a sign that you'd be worrying about it. So, all in all, something in your life needs a decision that you might be afraid of making, especially in the results.

2. I've had these myself, though not for a while. The "running but not running" indicates a lack of self-confidence or self-esteem. The fights are interesting though. They suggest that there's a conflict in your mind, or real life. But again, with the running, the mind part is more likely. This ties in to my earlier mentions of aspects. There's probably an aspect of yourself that feels underused, or unheard.

3. By the types of weather you listed, conflict and aggression are what it's trying to tell you. Again, this might be an aspect at work, or a problem you need to face. When the plane crash is thrown in, it represents that you might have goals that are too high for you to achieve right now. Is that plane damaged, or does it just fail? Damage indicates low self-confidence, failure indicates a potential illness.

4. The first form is far more telling than the second. Something in your sub-conscious wants to be heard, to draw attention to itself, or what you're doing at the time. Using your stereo system example, for example, is your mind's way of saying you need to reevaluate part of your life. Is the stereo your own, personal one? Or someone elses? If it's yours, it means your recreational time. Someone elses means your working life.

The second form is a lesser impact of the same message.

5. Dreaming that you have been stabbed, signifies your struggle with power. You may be experiencing feelings of inadequacy and defensiveness. The sword represents masculine power. That you actually feel it (more or less) can mean that these feelings are particularly strong, or the message is particularly meaningful. Is there a female authority figure that has come into your life? Or one that's gotten a little more power than she used to?

Funny how all these tie into each other, isn't it? What I would do, is next time you have a lucid dream, try and introduce yourself to your aspects, get to know what they mean and what part of your personality they represent. You might be surprised at what you can find out.

 

[recoverytwo]

Hey guys, the other day, my friend told me about lucid dreams, but didn't really get into it. I just know the basics, but what is it like?

Play Lucidity and you will know.

 

[LeonLethality]

I lucid dream, it is pretty much knowing you are dreaming and being able to control it because after all, it is your mind. though some things I am sometimes unable to control... still I always feel as if I didn't get as much sleep as I actually did if I lucid dream.

 

[BENZOOKA]

I haven't really tried that, but a friend of mine used to be able to do that all the time.

 

[historybuff]

Yes, I have had lucid dreams. I become aware that I'm dreaming but--I have never been able to control my dreams. So typically, when I have a nightmare and I know I'm dreaming--I can't do anything about it.

 

[Latinidiot]

I once realised what was happening was too ridiculous to be real, so I started to put things on fire, and suddenly fireproof bikinimodels appeared.



BEST. DREAM. EVER.

 

[^=ash=^]

this are incredibly good ... especially if you're in a nightmare ... instant weapon loading and then its just a kick ass, evil killing playground.

 

[Chummychanga]

I had a lucid dream where I was Hancock, and I was flying around until I met a person who took away my powers and pushed me off of a cliff. :[

 

[Daffy F]

Wasn't there a thread on this just a few weeks ago? Meh.
OT: Never had one myself, but I DID look them up, and It sounds interesting.

 

[Steeveeo]

As I said, it's not going to be super-professional stuff, but let's see...

Thanks, I wasn't expecting much, but it is a start.

1. The running suggests either an issue you're avoiding (maybe not on purpose, but subconsciously), or a decision you need to make. Given that you're jumping, the second is more likely, as that suggests risk. The meaning of the height difference is usually a sign that you'd be worrying about it. So, all in all, something in your life needs a decision that you might be afraid of making, especially in the results.

Hmm, maybe. A couple of times it was me being chased by some generic dream people (normal clothing, no distinguishable faces), but other times it's something that has nothing to do with anything, like in one dream where I suddenly had two younger brothers (I am the second youngest in my family, the only other one is my sister). This dream seemed to play on a musing of how my family would be if I had a younger brother (my sister was still there and active in the dream). It was a happy dream, in the field outside the school next to our house (oddly a vivid recreation, it was not distorted in the way normal dreams are); but for some arbitrary reason (I think we forgot something in our picnic and I was supposed to get it), I decided to jog back to the house and get something, and about 10 steps in, I fling about 30 feet in the air and come back down unscathed. Looking back to see if anyone saw this, it was only my two "younger brothers" who just looked curious, and I think I just walked back to the picnic after that (nobody seemed to question why I ran off, so I went with it).

2. I've had these myself, though not for a while. The "running but not running" indicates a lack of self-confidence or self-esteem. The fights are interesting though. They suggest that there's a conflict in your mind, or real life. But again, with the running, the mind part is more likely. This ties in to my earlier mentions of aspects. There's probably an aspect of yourself that feels underused, or unheard.

I have done some self-analyzing for a bit on the first one. I am a bit of a worry-wort, I have always had fears of things like defamation, school work piling up, and even death (big one, kept me up many nights). I think it could, perhaps, be a wish to just run away from all that annoying crap, but being held back by something; maybe an inability to do what I want? I dunno. I think the fighting one might have stemmed from me being a complete pansy during confrontation, but the last fight I ever got into was years ago, and yet I still have these dreams every few months or so.

3. By the types of weather you listed, conflict and aggression are what it's trying to tell you. Again, this might be an aspect at work, or a problem you need to face. When the plane crash is thrown in, it represents that you might have goals that are too high for you to achieve right now. Is that plane damaged, or does it just fail? Damage indicates low self-confidence, failure indicates a potential illness.

After a bit, the tornado dreams became a bit of a thrill-seeking type thing, where I got to play "Storm Chaser" (albeit on foot more often than not, but dream logic never questioned this). Even though most of them were me hanging as tightly on to something as I could to not get sucked up as the tornado passed right over where I was, like one time with a jungle gym, I started having the type of fun people have on roller coasters or base jumping; a flirtation with danger.
However, on the plane crash dreams, only a few times was I actually ON the plane. The rest of the times, I was just watching from wherever I was, noticing that the plane I was looking at looked just a little low, and suddenly it banks hard and nosedives into the ground, the crashing planes don't seem to have any reason why, they just do. But I have not noticed any real illness after these dreams, or at least never correlated them if they happened weeks prior. As an aside, I have an interesting story about a dream-premonition I once had with this type of recur if you want to hear it.

4. The first form is far more telling than the second. Something in your sub-conscious wants to be heard, to draw attention to itself, or what you're doing at the time. Using your stereo system example, for example, is your mind's way of saying you need to reevaluate part of your life. Is the stereo your own, personal one? Or someone elses? If it's yours, it means your recreational time. Someone elses means your working life.

The second form is a lesser impact of the same message.

Interesting. I don't remember who's sound system that was in that dream, I just remember my mother standing nearby as I worked on it. The sound-storm one started out with everyone in the area huddled within our big local shopping mall due to a big impending storm (no idea why everyone was there, but we were set for the night, sleeping bags and all). What's interesting is that the rising sound ones wake me up almost instantly at the peak, but the minor one just wakes up my subconscious and puts me in a sleep paralysis state. That state in itself is an odd phenomena when researched. Most people report being able to see even with their eyes closed (like me), not being able to move at all and actually realizing this (also me), and some of them even report auditory hallucinations (luckily not me). This phenomena has also been linked with the beginnings of an "Astral Projection" (even weirder and more awesome than lucid dreams, researching that is fun, but I have yet to actually have it happen to me). It's interesting the difference between these two types of Sound Dream.

5. Dreaming that you have been stabbed, signifies your struggle with power. You may be experiencing feelings of inadequacy and defensiveness. The sword represents masculine power. That you actually feel it (more or less) can mean that these feelings are particularly strong, or the message is particularly meaningful. Is there a female authority figure that has come into your life? Or one that's gotten a little more power than she used to?

Hmm, I cannot think of any new authority figures coming into my life at the time of either dream. The way I can point out the type of sword is interesting in the second dream, might the actual design mean anything? In the first one, I wasn't stabbed with a sword at all. The first "stabbed" dream I had was about a year earlier than the scimitar one, but, if I recall correctly, the first one was still a female. I don't remember all the details of the first one, but it was some sort of war situation. Suddenly, the assailant has pinned me on the ground, face down, and shoves a playing card into my back (this was about a year before I ever watched "Hunter x Hunter" and saw Hisoka's methods, so it's not taken from that).

Funny how all these tie into each other, isn't it? What I would do, is next time you have a lucid dream, try and introduce yourself to your aspects, get to know what they mean and what part of your personality they represent. You might be surprised at what you can find out.

I've been doing what I can in order to achieve another one (like Dream analysis and trying to suggest signals to myself), but it's been just about 3 years since my last lucid dream, and doesn't seem to want to show up easily...